today he met with senator john mccain who has been a vocal critic of the obama administration. on a lot of fronts. late this afternoon he and hagel had a frank and candid conversation in which they discussed some of mccain's concerns. mccain also called hagel an old friend. it's worth remembering both men are veterans of the vietnam war, and that's certainly a band of brothers. we'll be right back. >>> january 22nd, 1973 will stand out as one of the great days for freedom and free choice. this allows a woman free choice as to whether or not remain pregnant. this is extraordinary. >> welcome back to "hardball" that clip is from nbc news nightly 40 years ago when the supreme court handed down that roe v. wade decision. today our brand-new nbc news/wall street journal poll shows that for the first time in the history of the poll, our poll, a majority, 54% say abortion should be legal always, or most of the time. and the percentage of people who say roe v. wade should not be overturned has been rising steadily for over 20 years, topping at 70% in today's poll. despite the poll numb